parallaxerr

Yes, agree with all. I suspect lack of website maintenance is the main issue, which is enough to prevent me going back. 

I've phoned two other vendors today about different scopes, all listed as "in-stock", only to find the same issue.

I understand some use "in-stock" to mean it is available from the manufacturer, but even that didn't seem to be the case today. 

I'm really struggling to spend my dosh a new scope, who'd have thunk it!?

Not for the first time, I have had an order cancelled this week due to an item being unavailable.

In this instance it was a Celestron Omni XLT102 refractor. I know these have been out of production for a few years, but having found one online, apparently in-stock and discounted thus suggesting it was clearance, I placed an order.

The vendors website allowed me to go through the full purchase process, card details etc. and order confirmed via e-mail. Only to receive a follow up mail a few hours later - "we're very sorry, but this scope is not in stock and is no longer available...."

I'm intrigued to understand 1) why they allow this to happen and 2) why it's still there for sale on their website having been highlighted by someone trying to purchase it!?

Harrumph

Hi grjsk,

No, the alignment of the screws is not a problem, functionally. It just bugged me given the other issues I was having. If your focuser is OK then I'm sure the scope will perform fine!

I received my new Helios Apollo 15x70 bins yesterday and first impressions are very nice.

I took a quick look through them this afternoon however, and notice some very prominent brightening in the lower half of the field. I assume it's the sky brightness, before being inverted by the prism.

They're primarily for astro so not a big problem if this goes away at night, but I do enjoy some occasional daytime terrestrial viewing. Is this normal? I've circled it in red in the close up image below.

16 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Equinox replacement I guess? Very smart.

Makes sense given the feedback I've read re: ending the Equinox product line.

Did I read somewhere recently about a lack of availability of FPL-53 glass?...

They would get my vote with a 5" F5-F6 ED doublet, oh yes please 😄

Hi all,

Considering the maximum sized frac I could realistically use on my AZ4 recently, I was considering another Skywatcher ST120, which is reported to work well on said mount. Having owned one before (on a different mount) I know what to expect from the F5, but then I though maybe the extra focal length of the F6.5 ES AR127 would be nice. I particularly like the reports of quality from the ES along with the nice accessories. One thing that does bother me though, is the ES style finder shoe with all my finders being synta stlye, not an insurmountable problem. One other point of concern is the weight at ~7kg, combined with its length, this may push the AZ4 to its limits although I must point out that this would be a low power DSO scope only. I found this image online and the ES look quite at home on the AZ4:

Then I came across the new Meade LX85 range which includes a 5" refractor. Well, actually depending on which website you consult it's anything from 120mm to125 or 127mm aperture and F5.8 to F6!? Looking at the scope the lens cell looks very Synta to me so I'd bet it's a 120mm objective making it F5.8 at the claimed 700mm focal length. It also has a synta style focuser which will take a synta finder shoe, which is a bonus (note that in this picture I think the finder has been photo shopped in, in other images I see it fitted to an ES style shoe bolted to the OTA, similar to the AR127 above). Furthermore, should the focuser require upgrading, it looks like it would accept most skywatcher compatible focusers with 120° bolt spacing. OTA weight is listed as 4.5kg which is ideal for the AZ4, it's roughly the same as my 102mm apo.

The thing is, I can't find any review information on this scope at all! I wonder if any SGLers own, or have used one? I'd be interested to know if the extra 100mm focal length over the Skywatcher ST120 is at all noticeable with respect to CA. Also I guess the slower objective would have marginally better spherical correction?

It's available as OTA only at ~£350 so is very tempting when compared to the heavier, longer though better quality ES @ £580.

Anyone have any experience with this scope?

Cheers, Jon

Lovely clear skies last night, seemed very stable with very good seeing. Unfortunately the moon was at large though, looming on the Eastern horizon. I did however manage about an hour of decent observing before Luna stole the show and I put the new 24mm Panoptic to task.

I bought the eyepiece almost specifically for use on the Veil Nebula with UHC & OIII filters, having previously identified the favoured focal length/exit pupil with the Baader zoom. I checked out a few other targets before turning to Cygnus first though - Double cluster and Andromeda.

The double cluster was very nice but presents better with more contrast in the 16mm Nagler. More importantly though it gave me opportunity to test the edge correction of the Pan. All I can say is the hype is justified, it's better than the ES68° 24mm imo and I don't regret paying the extra 😀

Andromeda was somewhat washed out by the moonglow but I persevered and I could make out the extended disc with averted vision. I was convinced I could see a dark lane in the disc too, is this EP magic or is it just my brain playing tricks on me I wondered? M110 was also visible, quite pronounced with averted vision.

Time to turn to the Veil. 52Cyg is my go to starting point, easily captured in the FoV with my setting circle/wixey angle gauge push to system. Very high in the sky it highlighted how much better my setup is with the Orion 16" pier extension. Spinning the filter wheel through it's positions to the Astronomik OIII and the Witches Broom popped straight in to view. I could definitely make out more detail than the last time I looked at this target, whether that be the eyepiece or the conditions I don't know. Whilst still feint and grey, I could distinguish edge detail in both the Eastern and Western limbs and something caught my eye in the Northern rim, maybe Pickerings Triangle? More likely NGC6967 or 6974.

I switched to the Omega DGM NPB UHC filter which gave a slightly brighter image but reduced contrast, so the OIII wins for me on this target.

To finish off I turned to the Ring Nebula. Too small in the 24mm so I went straight for the 11mm Nagler. Averted vision revealed the central hole with both filters and also unfiltered, but the target was still relatively small. Just for fun I barlowed the 11mm up and to my surprise got very good views. At X130 mag, unfiltered was best with sky background very dark. Central hole easily visible with direct vision and I sensed the slight ovality and differing rim width often seen in astro images. The 11mm Nagler and Orion Shorty barlow look very handsome together!

All in all a very satisfying session. I look forward to visiting the same targets again on a moonless night of equal seeing, I should image the views will be even better again.

I'm not so sure, the 100 is F9 and the 120 is F7.5. I wonder if it's possible to check by part number?

Edit: they have different part numbers on FLOs website, though I don't suppose that's definitive proof of any differences. Maybe drop FLO a message?

3 minutes ago, upahill said:

Cooler Master ML360 TR4

👍

4 minutes ago, upahill said:

and now the labourious returns process can begin

I can wholeheartedly sympathise, this has become the norm for me in recent months when internet shopping!

41 minutes ago, upahill said:

Will be getting a custom hard line loop eventually but will have to wait as I already went WAY too far over my budget and if I go water I want to do it properly. Will also be resleeving all the cables etc.
Air cooler was £50 - Custom water cooling circa £300-£400 with the GPU too 😔 so it was the first of many compromises. Im not a gamer so its a little unnecessary to be honest and will be mainly for aesthetics if I go for it.

Hermes are due to deliver within the next 3.5 hours - fingers crossed.

 

I must admit, I'm totally converted to the AIO water cooling solutions. Had a few Corsair units now and they're great. My 12 year old i7 940 is overclocked to the high heavens and still runs cool (relatively speaking as the 940 was always a burner). 

Fingers crossed they deliver and you can get up and running, good luck!

11 hours ago, upahill said:

Unfortunately Hermes have let the side down again and it has been sat ready to test for 3 days until a CPU fan arrives

Looks ripe for a water cooler to me 😉

The last piece of my diminutive eyepiece collection (yeah right, who am I kidding!?).

This one I bought new so get a sticker and everything 😁

Thanks Alan. One of the reasons I sold the Omega is because I didn't want to damage such a valuable watch, so rarely wore it. You may be surprised at the cost of the Bulova, very reasonable!

I picked this new watch up today, it's a Bulova "Lunar Pilot". As much as I'd like one of the new Omega Moon Watches, they're a bit out of my price range, though ironically I did sell a Seamaster to fund this purchase and some other potential goodies (probably a Panoptic 24mm).

What I find really interesting is the story behind this watch - Omega and Bulova were bidding to be the official watch suppliers for the Apollo program and obviously it was Omega that won in the end. But, Bulova asked Apollo 15 mission commander David Scott to take one of their watches to the moon to try out. During the mission, Scotts Omega broke with the glass popping off the case, so he ended up wearing the Bulova for his EVA's. It is the Bulova that can be seen on his wrist in all the Apollo 15 lunar EVA photographs. Scotts Bulova Lunar Pilot recently sold at auction for over $1.6M!

The watch has a high frequency Quartz mechanism that is touted as being the most accurate there is. Running at over 4X the frequency of a standard quartz mechanism, it is claimed to keep time within +/-10secs per year. I've synchronised it with my radio controlled Citizen watch which updates daily from an Atomic clock broadcast in Europe, so we'll see how it performs.

I think it's really good looking and it's nice to have a watch with a story behind it.

17 hours ago, Captain Magenta said:

... in the meantime this arrived today. 16” extension pier to go between my Uni tripod and eq3-5m and/or skytee2. It weighs nearly 6kg!

 

Snap!

Orion Shorty Plus barlow, as good as brand new in box. Same as Celestron Ultima and made in Japan. Hopefully will play well with the new Naglers on the planets.

Last night I had the opportunity, albeit very brief, to try out the my new TeleVue eyepieces, well one of them anyway.

Cloud was broken but fast moving, so over the space of about 30 minutes, I managed to make a reasonable comparison between the Nagler 16T5 and the Baader zoom at the 16mm setting, mostly cruising around Cygnus with the intention of viewing the Veil again, after recently seeing it for the first time.

It was immediately obvious what all the fuss is about with respect to edge of field correction. In my F7 refractor, allowing 52cyg to drift across the Fov, I could see no SA whatsoever in the Nagler with stars remaining in tight focus right to the edge. In contrast the Baader zoom falls off a fair bit, despite having a smaller FoV at the same focal length.

I have been quite content with the zoom for some time, but further abberations were highlighted after viewing with the Nagler. Mainly that the zoom presents a somewhat "grainy" image and that there is distinct EOFB. The zoom however is more comfortable when trying to take in the whole FoV with the Nagler demanding much closer eye placement resulting in the brushing of eye lashes.

I had previously planned on picking up a 24mm Panoptic specifically for viewing the Veil nebula. I found the Veil visible in my 32mm plossl, but there was not quite enough contrast, even when filtered. I tried the 24mm setting of the zoom on the Veil with UHC/OIII filters and the slightly darker background sky did indeed allow me to see more detail, especially in the Western element. Interestingly the 16T5 presented a very close image suggesting noticeably superior transmission to the zoom! 

Then the thick cloud rolled in and proceedings came to an end. A very positive first impression though!

 Oooh, aaaaaaahh. Nothing new to many SGL'ers but quite a big deal for me - the arrival of not one, but two Naglers, my first TV EP's.

Thanks to @David Hardie, they really are like new, as described.

But David, why did you lace the packaging with nerve agent? It's the only reasonable explanation for the uncontrollable shaking each time I pick them up 😓

Hi Piero,

Thanks for the post. I agree that a larger scope would improve my views but it simply isn't an option for many reasons I won't go into in this thread. So, I'm sticking with the frac on the AZ4 and actually I'm happy with this combo, accepting it's limitations. Wide field is also therefore important due to manual tracking of planets at high mag and location of DSOs at lower power.

I guess on axis transmission is going to be close run between a lot of decent EPs but poor edge correction was bugging me in the Baader when locating DSOs which involves inspecting the whole FoV.

I've always fancied the Vixen HRs but the focal lengths are too short for my scope and seeing conditions. Actually, seeing conditions are most likely my limiting factor from home, I must get to some dark sites this winter to really test the scope and new EPs.

Oh...and the zoom - yes, I'll be keeping that!

P.S. just checked out the Docters and I thought TV were expensive 😱

15 minutes ago, Alan White said:

A road you may regret sometimes financially

This emotion I have already felt...

16 minutes ago, Alan White said:

but boy I doubt you will ever doubt it when observing

This one, I look forward to!

Stop it now gents. At least let me ride the 82° wave before you drag me deeper!

2 hours ago, carastro said:

Sorry, but what on Earth (or sky) is the Green and Black club.

Carole

2 hours ago, johninderby said:

Could be this I suppose. 🤔

1 hour ago, Thalestris24 said:

https://www.greenandblacks.co.uk/

First rule of Green & Black club - don't talk about Green & Black club 🤣

1 hour ago, R26 oldtimer said:

If that's the ad you're referring to...

...then you are in for a very nice surprise 😁

Same seller, different EP's! Just Naglers (he says) coming my way. Ethoi, well they're for another life!

I too had the ES68° 24mm previously and found it to be nice eyepiece. I sold it on because it wasn't a suitable FL for the scope I had at the time and didn't get used.

I'll have to evaluate the effect of exit pupil on the Veil more using the Baader Zoom and will then select a 68° to suit, but I suspect it will be a TV given that I now have 2 Naglers on the way.

Of course, I may find 32mm to be the best, in which case I'll stick with a plossl as I don't want to consider the even slipperier 2" route!

I recently found the winged eyecup from my baader zoom, which I don't even use hence never realised it was missing in the first place, in the flower bed whilst weeding. These things grow legs Ant, I'm sure of it!